Periodically a gymkhana is got up, with donkey races, gymnastic competitions, and the distribution of prizes.
_Work._--No work is demanded from the prisoners.
_Correspondence, Money Orders and Parcels._--Very few money orders are received. The interned Turks are chiefly illiterate; those whose wives are interned at Cairo, and who are allowed to occasionally visit them, seldom write, as they know them to be well treated. Parcels are seldom sent to the camp, and hitherto no philanthropic society has busied itself over the necessitous.
_Prisoners' Aid._--The only plea which has been addressed to us by means of the Ottoman interpreter, who speaks French and English extremely well, comes from a certain number of destitute prisoners. They wish to have, in addition to the complete outfit with woollen overcoat supplied by the English Government, a change of warm garments, which they have not the means to buy. Many find it difficult to wear the kind of foot-gear in ordinary use--the heelless leather Turkish slippers--and wish for laced shoes such as they wear at home. We asked the interpreter to make out a list of names of the needy; and after submitting it to the commandant of the camps for verification, we decided to send him from the Ottoman Red Cross Fund the sum of 2,000 francs, to provide these prisoners with the extra garments which they require, and with shoes and tobacco.
The camp of Sidi Bishr is situated 15 kilometres (9-1/2 miles) to the north-east of Alexandria in a healthy spot on the sea shore, where the sand dunes form little hillocks intersected by miniature valleys. Palms are scattered over it, and it lies open to the fresh breezes. The view from the highest points of the camp is very extensive. A recently constructed road for vehicular traffic leads into the camp, all the appointments of which give the impression that everything has been done to make the prisoners as comfortable as possible. A kitchen garden has just been laid out in a sheltered place, and a flat piece of ground surrounded by palm trees prepared for games, tennis, football, etc.
_Strength._--The camp at Sidi Bishr contains 430 officers, 60 of whom have been here since February, 1915; 410 orderlies captured with their officers, on whom they attend, each officer having 1 orderly; 10 imaums (priests); 20 civilians, who were captured by the Sherif of Mecca and at once handed over to the English.